Prison time, $22,000 fines for Nazi chants in new laws

People who chant Nazi slogans or invoke Nazi “characteristics” would face up to two years in prison and a $22,000 fine under laws introduced to state parliament on Wednesday.

But the government is refusing to release the findings of an independent review of hate speech offences, which it received days before the National Socialist Network (NSN) rally outside Parliament House on November 8.

Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday could not say how the new laws would prevent neo-Nazi rallies from happening, only that they would give police more scope to make arrests.

His government also confirmed it was not looking to make any changes to electoral laws to prevent the NSN’s political arm, White Australia, from registering as a political party in NSW.

Instead, the proposed Crimes Act amendments make it an offence to publicly display support for Nazi ideology. Chants such as “blood and honour”, which was shouted by a group of 60 neo-Nazi protesters outside the parliament earlier this month and has links to Hitler Youth, would be illegal.

The offence would come with a maximum penalty of one year in prison or an $11,000 fine, doubled to two years’ imprisonment or a $22,000 fine if the Nazi display is outside a synagogue, a Jewish school or the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Police would also be given powers to order a suspected Nazi symbol be taken down, and introduce fines of $2200 or a three-month prison sentence for those who do not follow police direction. Police would also have the power to force a person to reveal their identity if it would help officers investigate a suspected Nazi display.

The legislation clarifies that even if a protest is authorised, these offences still apply. It would be up to police to determine if the chants reflected a Nazi ideology.

The proposed laws introduced to the parliament on Wednesday will not be passed this year as they will be referred to a lower house committee for scrutiny.

Immediately after the rally outside parliament earlier this month, Minns said: “If we had our time again, that rally wouldn’t have taken place.”

Police said a communication error was to blame for Minns and Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon being left in the dark.

Minns said on Wednesday the pathway to reform was “not straightforward”.

“The reason we’re sending it to a committee is so that we can seek and gather information from constitutional experts at universities and in the law, and we make sure that we get it right,” he said.

Asked if the government would look to prevent future protests, Minns said stopping neo-Nazi rallies was the purpose of the bill, which would give police the ability to make arrests regardless of whether a protest is authorised. The laws would not directly stop neo-Nazis from protesting, but would give police more options to charge them for expressing Nazi ideology.

After passing the law against incitement of racial hatred in February, the government commissioned former Supreme Court judge John Sackar, KC, “to consider criminal law protections against hate speech for vulnerable communities”.

Attorney-General Michael Daley, who received the findings on November 5, declined on Wednesday to say why the report had not been made public and whether it had recommended the laws be introduced.

“The government will carefully consider Mr Sackar’s report before publicly releasing it,” Daley said.

“It is important we take the time to get this right, to ensure criminal law hate speech protections are operating in the best interests of the community.”

Sackar declined to comment ahead of the report’s public release.

The government isn’t considering any changes to electoral law to prevent White Australia from registering as a political party, Special Minister of State John Graham confirmed on Wednesday.

Graham said the commissioner does have the power to reject a party if its name is offensive, which “could easily come into play” with White Australia. He said regulating parties based on their policies was “very difficult”.

The government will also seek to remove a sunset clause on the offence of inciting racial hatred, an amendment that was supported by the opposition and the Greens, which is set to expire after three years.

The government was left scrambling to contain the fallout from the National Socialist Network’s neo-Nazi display outside the parliament, which the premier, police minister and police commissioner said they were all unaware of.

One of the men who attended the rally was unmasked by the Herald as South African national and senior NSN member Matthew Gruter. The civil engineer has since been taken into immigration detention and will be deported.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said his department, intelligence agencies, and law enforcement were “pressure testing” national laws to make sure they are “fit for purpose”.

With Jack Gramenz and Nick Newling

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